Tips Tuesday – Move Beyond Tip Collecting

Hello Happy Site Owners! This week’s tips include just a few big things that are happening online that you need to know about. But the rest of our time is going to be moving past being a tips collector and getting down to the nitty gritty of what truly makes your site successful. So let’s dive in. Listen to the podcast.

The Big News is Images

One of the biggest new developments I saw this week was G+ rolling out a full-bleed image feature. That means that when you share a post from your blog, if the image that is associated with it meets certain criteria, it will take up more space in the G+ news feed.

Images on social media platforms like Facebook, G+, Pinterest and more have become a big deal. The new online image creation tool Canva has caught fire and tutorials and tips are popping up all over the place.

There’s a Downside

All of this big image hoohaa can have a radically negative impact on your site.

For the most part, big images can have an negative impact on performance. They can make your site load slower.

That’s one thing. And it bothers me, but not nearly as much as what just happened.

When Google Makes the Rules

There’s been a saying in the SEO community for some time that if you help Google, Google will help you. That’s been pretty much true. But this latest perk could actually draw a Google penalty for you.

And I’ve seen folks racing to jump on it without really considering the impact on their site or their authorship credentials. That’s the scary part for me. And that trend is only getting worse.

You’re in Sales

Getting Noticed

Getting noticed is part of sales.

Back in 2009-2011, there were bunches of entrepreneurs who jumped online and brought their guerilla marketing tactics with them. They invented the online techniques for getting noticed. They made money on whatever they were selling at the time. And then they went on to make even more money teaching newcomers how to do what they did.

Social media sites were just gaining ground then too. And bunches of folks started jumping on that band wagon and did the same thing, only a different way. People just started helping people with using the platform. And we started moving away from guerilla marketing to relationship marketing. Now that trend has turned to a blend of all of it via content marketing that tells a story.

Business is getting personal.

And the online space is getting crowded.

Now we’re back to gimmicks for getting noticed, like the gargantuan images.

The Need for Gimmicks

The fact is, there will always be gimmicks to get noticed. And more tricks and gimmicks to get folks to enter your sales funnel.

If you are opposed to using gimmicks this way, I’d say you haven’t reached a real money making plateau in your business yet. Once you try these things, and watch the bucks start rolling in, you may change your mind about them not only being okay, but necessary. Ask me how I know that’s true.

Gimmicks and Your Site

Now comes the tricky part. Because G+ is Google, and because Pinterest has SEO perks too, doing what you need to do to get noticed on those platforms requires that you not just post there, but that you make changes to your site as well to make the most of the perks those platforms offer.

Show Me the Money

I have clients who are making thousands a month from their activities on Pinterest, Hangouts on Air, and complex member sites. Every one of them requires site maintenance at a very high level because all of those gimmicks could cause serious performance issues and/or serious instability if not done correctly.

I saw this coming, and is why last year I started maneuvering BlogAid to provide services that matched those needs.

Show Me the Problem

And now with this new G+ thing, even sites that don’t normally require so much maintenance/performance concern, will suddenly, if the site owner isn’t careful about the changes they make.

In other words, some of these gimmicks could start backfiring and toast all of the ranking and credentials you’ve worked hard to build on your site.

The same thing happened a few years ago when everybody was jumping on the SEO bandwagon. The gimmicks worked very well for a while. Then Google decided to start issuing penalties for cheating like that. Now Google is leading the way, dictating what they want to see.

The whole thing has turned around so now the cart is leading the horse in some ways.

There’s Another Way

Here’s the crux of what I want to put to you today. It may take gimmicks to get noticed and to get folks into your sales funnel. But that’s not all there is to site or business success.

In the last few weeks I’ve had planning sessions with several site owners that will be running complex member sites. One of the things we discussed during those sessions was what happened to all of the members once they completed the courses.

Will the site owners always have to jump on the latest gimmick bandwagon to attract new clients?

The answer is yes and no.

Sustainable Success

There are lots of businesses that strive to retain clients for life. BlogAid is one of them. I don’t have big numbers on any social media platform. I don’t have a humongous email list. And yet, I have a thriving business that continues to grow to the point that I have a team of vetted providers now to handle different segments of the business, like theme design and troubleshooting WordPress hacks. And I have a team of vetted providers for my clients to outsource some of their tasks to like SEO copywriting and social media. It takes a village to be in this part of the industry because so many things are specialized now.

And that leaves me free to focus on several areas that I do extremely well and grow them. And it’s working.

My clients keep coming back for more as they grow. And they keep referring everybody they know to me too. And then the vetted providers on my team send clients to me just like I send clients to them. Few of us use affiliate or referral fees for that. We’re happy to team up to meet the client’s needs.

Which Business are You Running?

Let me ask you, which type of business are you running? Does your business rely on volume of new clients that you have to spend lots of money and time using the latest gimmick to get? Or, does your business rely on repeats and referrals? Or are you in the middle with those two?

There are no right answers to these questions. I’m posing them to help you take a look at how you’ve set up your business and your marketing.

And the main question I want to ask is, are you make money doing it that way?

The next question I want to ask is, are you happy doing it that way?

And the last question is, are you achieving your long-term goals?

Do You Need Tips or a System?

I’m grateful for all of my loyal Tips Tuesday followers. And I’m glad that you find the info helpful. I’m even more grateful for those of you who follow my own posts and tutorials and eventually hire me to help you.

And this is what I’d like to offer. I’m growing BlogAid to offer more holistic help with goal achievement. Yes, I will still remain focused on tutorials that help you with the mechanics of your site. But that’s only one part of your success.

There’s more to it than just setting up your site and SEO and conversion properly.

There’s blogging with a purpose.

There’s curating your own content into packages that are truly helpful.

There’s a reason why folks just starting out need to do things differently than folks who are already more established. And there are ways to do things to get established quickly, compared to fumbling your way through it with try-this-try-that.

There’s a way to run a member site to keep folks from jumping out of it after three months, which is the norm.

And all of this goes beyond the latest gimmick. In fact, once you know these things, you can apply it to any new online fad and run with it.

I Want to Hear From You

I’ve been creating these systems for my new clients for almost a year now. And I’m developing programs that I can offer to more folks. Those will be both in group sessions and 1-on-1 sessions.

But I want to hear from you first before I go public with it.

What do you need to help you have a successful site and business?

What will help you meet your goals?

Even if you don’t participate in these new offerings from BlogAid, these are good questions to ask yourself periodically. If what you’re doing now is not working as well as you would like, what needs to change?

Can you create a new system for yourself, and can you hold yourself to working it?

Those are the two things I see folks having the most trouble with. It’s hard to get out of your thinking and your routine and see your business another way. Sometimes outside eyes and thoughts are the only way.

Site Reviews

While I’m getting feedback from you, I’m going to be doing more free site reviews. That’s a good starting point to see if what you’re doing is meeting your goals the best way it could.

There will be a limit of 5 site reviews per session. I’ll be announcing the dates first to my VIP members, which include all of my training clients, and then to my newsletter subscribers. And then telling the world via my blog posts and Tips Tuesday.

I’ll be doing more reviews and site audit offers and perhaps a few other types of group sessions all through the summer. So be watching for those announcements too.

Up a Notch

I appreciate you sticking with me through this time together. I want to help all of us move beyond tip collectors and using gimmicks and into real site success. I hope you’ll consider leaving a comment on the blog, on iTunes, or on Google Plus. I love hearing from you. Be sure to visit BlogAid.net for more tips and resources and I’ll see you online.

About MaAnna Stephenson

MaAnna is a geek who can still speak in plain English and helps non-geeks create sites that get noticed by search engines and readers, are secure, plus convert, and perform well.Connect with MaAnna online

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Hi! I'm MaAnna, and I'm a geek who can still speak in plain English. I help non-geeks become confident, successful owners of sites that are secure, perform well, and get noticed by search engines and readers. How May I Help You?